Side Event,Tuesday, 21 February, 17:00-19:00 (CET Paris, UTC+1), Room VIII
UNESCO Headquarters, 125 avenue de Suffren, 75007 Paris - Zoom-registration (for digital participation only - registration for on site participation is no longer possible)
Hybrid Platform Orders: How Can Social Media Councils Contribute to a Human Rights-Based and Accountable Discourse Sphere
Organizers of the Side Event
Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut, Hamburg
Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin
British Academy project "Addressing the Digital Realm through the Grammar of Human Rights Law", Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford
Department of Theory and Future of Law, University of Innsbruck
UNESCO Chair Freedom of Communication and Information, University of Hamburg
German Commission for UNESCO, Bonn
Description of the Side Event
Platforms are legislators, enforcers and adjudicators of online speech rules. Their norms and algorithmic practices shape how we communicate. But how can we ensure public values in hybrid platform orders? And which ones? We report on and discuss findings from a research project analyzing the potential of social media councils in contributing to a human rights-based and accountable discourse sphere.
Contributors will shed light on the optimal design of the normative infrastructure for better rule-making, rule-enforcing and rule-adjudication structures in hybrid communication spaces and tie these discussions to the document under discussion at the Global Conference, with a special reference to the potential of social media councils, also as an alternative or complement to government-imposed models. After a first round of
presentations there will be ample opportunity of discussion.
Chair
Matthias C. Kettemann, Professor of Innovation Law, University of Innsbruck, Research Program Head, Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut, Hamburg and Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin (also presenting the Stiftung Mercator-funded research project “Platform://Democracy”, a global analysis of social media councils)
Speakers
• Wolfgang Schulz, Director, Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans-Bredow-Institut; Director, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin; UNESCO Chair Freedom of Communication and Information, University of Hamburg (on hybrid speech orders)
• Dennis Redeker, Postdoctoral Researcher, ZEMKI, University of Bremen (on a recent empirical study of the potential of citizen engagement in platform politics)
• Jillian C. York, Director for International Freedom of Expression, Electronic Frontier Foundation, author of Silicon Values (on democracy in the digital constellation)
• Christian Djefall, Professor for Law, Science and Technology, School for Social Sciences and Technology, Technical University of Munich (on the potential of risk assessment obligations to improve practices on platforms)
• Katie Pentney, PhD researcher in international human rights law, University of Oxford (on the British Academy project “Addressing the Digital Realm through the Grammar of Human Rights Law”)
• Martin Scheinin, British Academy Global Professor, Bonavero Institute of Human Rights, University of Oxford (on the British Academy project “Addressing the Digital Realm through the Grammar of Human Rights Law”) - online participation
